By Miss Lyn

    There was something about this night….really, we all felt it…it was like being at the Rat back in "the day".
Well first, this wasn't just a gig, it was an event. We were celebrating 30 years of awesome music, information, entertainment and community…provided by WMBR's The Late Risers Club and their wonderful DJs.

    It was a sweltering day and the night was just as hot….we had all four floors of the Baseball Tavern: the roof deck was the food, a cool evening breeze, and chairs & tables to hang and talk….

The Music

David Minehan Photo: Lisa Connelly	David Minehan Photo: Lisa Connelly	Dave Barton Photo: BeatGirl
Cutlass 3 Photo: Lisa Connelly	Cutlass 3 Photo: Lisa Connelly	Richee/Band 19 Photo: Miss Lyn

    The 2nd floor would have been awesome, it was a huge room with a bar and Jan Crocker brought all his old videos, but the air conditioning was broken and the day had been so hot the room was like a sauna. Devoted fans did stay for a viddy or two but have to leave to get some air,
the street level was for hanging out in air conditioning and the Basement was, of course where the bands were playing , packed and sweltering…so what else is new.

    I tried to think of what made this night feel so much like a flashback to a great night at the Rat , my take; the audience. Everyone who was anyone was there; tons of band members, radio DJs, writers and fans. In those old days, say when The Late Risers was first on the air, The Rat would be filled with the same types of personalities, 'cause there were so few of us and we were always out yet every night felt special!

The Music

The Neighborhoods Photo: Lisa Connelly	The Neighborhoods Photo: Lisa Connelly
The Outlets Photo: BeatGirl	Cutlass 3 Photo: Lisa Connelly

    I asked a number of people that were there what they thought of the night and all the comments had two things in common: the heat and The Rat feel. Here are the comments:

    It was at least 110 degrees on all floors and felt like a fun night at the Rat in it's heyday. Yep; i saw old people... and surprisingly enough... a lot of us still look pretty damn good (well some of us anyway). The Late Risers Club was a groundbreaking radio show and the DJs had the guts to play local bands, punk rock, new wave and stuff commercial radio wouldn't play in a million years. It was great to see Jan Crocker's artsy video on a big screen... Marisa Acosta's film on the Late Risers Club was a darn great documentary and the bands that played were the bands from the day and they look and sound swell even today... This was home and it is always good to be home. - Arthur Freedman

    That night, the heat did something funny with our heads. We drifted back to when the Rat was boss, Cantone's our living room and the only reason to pour yourself outta bed before noon was LRC. Back to a time when the clubs were dirty, the music dirtier, our friends worse...and here they were, familiar faces, trading memories of other sweat soaked nights in overcrowded rooms. Even the Basement's ceiling conspired with us raining down in honor of our past revels. Thank you Late Risers Club for 30 unbelievable years! You gave us our soundtrack and we ran with it...we're still runnin'. - BeatGirl

Boby Bear and Artie Freedman Photo: Artie Freedman	Blowie and Greg Reibman Photo: Miss Lyn	Joanie, Judd & Dave Barton Photo: BeatGirl
Bradley Jay & Blowie Photo: BeatGirl	Brian Stocker Photo: BeatGirl	Albert O and Judy Parsons Photo: BeatGirl
Kara, Anya & Boby Bear Photo: Artie Freedman	Late Risers Club is at 88.1 FM Mon-Fri 10:00am to noon	Peter and Theo Photo: Miss Lyn

    There was a moment during the Outlets' set that transported me back to the Rat: Packed room, hot as hell, people singing along with the band...I've never relived the Rat like that. It was odd and it was great.- Carl Biancucci

    I loved feeling the steamy coating of perspiration that filled the Basement to make sure we all shared the same DNA. The PA sucked to the perfect degree (110, I believe it was), but the company was amazing. I got to see and talk to my all-time favorite Boston DJs--all in one place-Albert O, David Green, Greg Reibman, Joanie Lindstrom, John Bernhardt, Natelie, Bradley J, Blowfish, Tom Lane and my favorite famous fund-raiser Cindy Bailen.! I didn't see Mark Flynn, Carter Alan or Oedipus. The food on the roof was the best-and the Sox were on the tube (they lost that night), but there were other things to focus on Hats off to Joanie for putting a great party together and for Martin Doyle for supplying a cool new dive. - T Max

    The Late Risers Club is now 30 years old. That seems almost impossible. That means that something that is punk is also traditional or is part of the establishment. So, it goes (as Nick Lowe would say about thirty years ago also). Current LRC DJ, Chris Bobko was born in 1981 which brings to the fore how time is passing and how many current punk fans were not around during the beginning days.
   So, back we go: 1977. At this point the Boston punk scene was up and running. The Boston Groupie News itself started in 1975. There were a few clubs and the solid core of groups. On radio, Oedipus had been on the air for a while. Other college stations like Emerson (which had Barb Kitson and Carmelita) and BU had punk radio shows at night.
   Tom Lane was on WTBS (the call letters for WMBR before Ted Turner bought them for his cable station) in the morning along with Carter Alan and Dave Wohlman. Tom realized that music was changing and the mainstream music they are playing was not so exciting and moved to get the music oriented toward punk and getting the personnel that would be compatible to that end. He recruited Greg Reibman (from Emerson) and Blowfish (me) and the first line up of the LRC was established.
   A week block of punk music in the morning was truly innovative and pushing the boundaries for the day. Lane also directed the DJ's to make the show a complete morning radio show, including news and weather. The idea was that you never had to change the dial to get your information for the day. The show was to be part of your punk lifestyle.
   In 1977 The Late Risers were fighting all the battles that punks were everywhere. It was an uphill battle against dismissive attitudes and anger at the music which upset the status quo.
   For those that used to listen to the LRC the songs bring back the whole era; The Clash, the Sex Pistols, Wreakless Eric, Nick Lowe, The Police etc. Time moved on and so did the music and the DJ's; Albert O, Tami Heidi, David Greene, Henry Santoro,Joanie Lindstrom, Peter Choyce and Bob Weston to name a few. The styles and sub genres also came and went; The Australian groups, The New Zealand groups, Reggae, Two-Tone groups, Punkabilly, The Bat Cave groups, The New Romantics, the electronic groups, New Wave, No wave, The Paisley Underground…etc.
   30 years later there is much that is the same and much that has changed on the LRC. At the beginning there was less music to pick and you would hear the same song and groups day after day, now with so much music you hardly get any repetition at all. Ironically the exception this year was the CD by the Atlantics which was played everyday for a week. The idea of a morning show has gone by the wayside now it's all music from front to back except for the concert report which has been a mainstay from day one.
   The LRC had the week leading up to the gig as a celebration over the air with many of the DJ's from back in the day playing the music popular during their tenure and reviewing their days at the mike. That was lots of fun.
   There is also Marissa Acosta's documentary that tells the tale of the Late Risers Club which is nicely done and a wonderful history and was shown at the Baseball Tavern gig.
   Rock and roll was 21 years old in 1977. We can see that punk changed rock profoundly. Rock is played differently since the Ramones, that most influential group, and the business of rock music changed as well.
   The Late Risers Club has been a dependable home base for us Bostonians. It's hard to think what things would have been like without it.